John Scrudato

John leads Cooley’s practice engineering team, working alongside its world-class engineers, knowledge management professionals and product managers to craft the firm’s technology roadmap and deliver unparalleled technical capabilities. He holds a BS in mechanical engineering and history from Yale University and a JD/MBA from the University of Michigan, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective to his work at the intersection of law and technology.

John’s team’s mission is to weave Cooley data, cutting-edge technology and thoughtful user experience into a seamless platform that delights and empowers both Cooley lawyers and clients. Throughout his career, John has held positions at several top global law firms, where he led the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Recently, he led an engineering team that developed and deployed one of the first retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)-enabled generative AI applications for a law firm.

An ardent advocate for open source and open innovation, John previously chaired the technical working group of the Open Cap Table Coalition. In this role, he spearheaded the development and upkeep of the Open Cap Table Format (OCF) standard, fostering a common language for cap table data to streamline collaboration and data exchange across the startup ecosystem.

John’s belief in collaborative innovation fuels his dedication to breaking down silos and advancing the use of technology within the legal sector. By championing shared standards and cross-organizational collaboration, he works to drive meaningful change, ensuring technology creates value for the broader legal community.

John’s vision for the future of legal technology includes creating intuitive, conversational interfaces that make accessing internal knowledge as effortless as consulting a colleague. He’s also focused on developing tools to extract structured insights from the vast amounts of unstructured text within law firms, unlocking new value from existing data.

Through his work, John aspires not only to amplify Cooley’s capabilities but also to shape the broader evolution of legal practice in the era of AI. His passion lies in harnessing existing platforms, sparking rapid innovation and ultimately transforming the delivery of legal services for both clients and practitioners.